Angels with Dirty Faces
by Soul93
Summary: Fire burning down at monastery road. Why'd you do it lover? Throwing matches in my home? Jin makes Xiaoyu an offer she can't refuse.
1. Chapter 1

**Author's note:** I thought I was done with new projects... already have too many unfinished stories glaring at me. If life should allow I will eventually get around to them. I'm a huge Xiaojin shipper since like forever. I've had the opportunity of reading some really great stories about them but alas the desire to contribute to this fandom would not let me rest.

I wrote this piece a while back, thought I wouldn't post it but after re-reading it I decided maybe I should. It's stated as being complete simply because I don't want to feel the pressure to update it constantly.

This is somewhat AU, deviating a bit from cannon and altered to suit my idea.

 **Warnings** : I needed a reason to write a smutty dark Xiaojin so I did. There is a plot but honestly it's again a justification for smut. I guess it's dubious consent but seriously this is fanfiction, dub-con is just another word for love/hate sex as far as I'm concerned.

 **Disclaimer:** Don't own Tekken neither the amazing song by Polica, Amongster, which was on repeat during my first draft for this.

 _Amongst the trees amongst my freedom_

 _My hands are red, I have been bleeding_

 _What will happen, what will happen_

 _When I seduce you teacher_

 _Yes to greyhound rides, no to you by my side_

 _I don't need you, I don't need anyone_

 _Come back_

 _Come back_

Xiaoyu's heart thudded loudly like a drum inside her chest. Every breath burnt like hot ash and her legs strained as she ran up the flight of stairs. It didn't even occur to her until she was almost at her destination that no soldier had tried to stop her. In fact it seemed as if the entire building was deserted. The tiles shimmering like a lake under the sunlight. It was too quiet, too clean – he was expecting her.

 _Please be okay_. She mentally hoped. It was that tiny hope that he was still alive that had kept her heavy limps moving, the guilt that somehow it was all her fault that made it impossible to stop. _Stupid Girl!_ Her mind seemed to mock. Why didn't she ever learn?

All too soon the imposing doors with the huge insignia were before her and somewhere in the distance Xiaoyu could've sworn she heard an angel screeching in the night, before it hurled itself from the sky to the waiting ground.

The doors opened before she even touched them, confirming the fact that he had indeed been waiting for her. The room was dark and the air weighed down by the hate infusing the man's soul.

"Where is he?" she asked the figure that almost melded with the darkness but not quite. Even now something vaguely human set him apart from the demons. "Where is, Hworang?!" she demanded refusing to be ignored. She heaved a hand to her aching ribs a wound that still refused to heal.

He turned then, his golden eyes like that of some mystic creature piercing through her. "He might as well be dead," he said flatly, no emotion whatsoever.

Xiaoyu hated how her eyes prickled then with the promise of hot tears. But she wasn't crying because she was sad, she was crying because maybe she should have cried two years ago when everything really went to hell. When the boy she loved ripped out her heart and left her bleeding. For all the friends that have suffered simply because she loved them.

For Grandpa Jinrei whose lost is like an infected wound that refuses to heal and gushes red and yellow when touched.

"But he is not dead, he can't be, you wouldn't have!" She cried. She sounded hysterical, she sounded like the childish school girl she once was.

He exhaled and the air seemed to move. When he stepped forward so his face was no longer shrouded by darkness, the urge to step back was overwhelmingly strong but she stood her ground. Biting the inside of her mouth and tasting blood.

Even now, hardened by the devil he allowed take over he was still so achingly beautiful, his eyelashes thick and arched proudly on his forehead. Those lips that had once kissed her still looked soft and supple his dark hair shimmered as if with a life of its own. But it was all a lie. A beautiful lie but a lie nevertheless.

"Why do you deny me, Xiao?" he asked softly and she hated him for using his pet name for her, for caressing it with affectionate tones as if the past two years didn't happen. As if his crown was not tainted with blood.

"You're evil!" she hurled angrily, too upset, too tired to remember all the creative insults she'd often heard spewing out of Hworang's mouth. "And everyone hates you, I hate you!" she continued with venom, wanting, needing to inflict some pain even though it wasn't enough. Could never be enough.

Jin did not flinch instead he crossed his powerful arms over his chest. "I should kill him, your friend – the Korean hot head, after all he has been nothing but a bothersome puppy. Constantly yapping at my heels lacking the intellect to understand the gulf between our powers..." he drawled in that flat tone that was at both bored and tired.

"But he is brave, unlike you!" because she needed to restore Hworang's worth, not so much for herself but for the ghosts around them. It had not been stupidity that had prompted Hworang to challenge his oldest rival once more, it was so much more than Jin could hope to understand. It was -

But a grab at her chin interrupted her thoughts and narrowed eyes stared back at her with so much anger she feared she'd drown under it all. "I may be many things, but I am not a coward," Jin hissed, his touch bruising, meant to punish her. "Anyone else would be dead for even hinting such in my face let alone having the audacity to say it."

And she believed him.

"I will release your friend, but only on one condition." Jin continued.

"Anything," Xiaoyu was quick to say, every moment wasted counted.

He softened his grip on her chin, the anger in his eyes evaporating like vapour. "Give yourself to me and your friend walks," he said simply, but it was far from simple.

Yes they now all lived under Jin's rule but at least there were little freedoms to be had. Familiar faces in an endless and bitter winter. If she gave herself over to Jin, it would be the same as selling her soul to the devil.

"And not just your soul, Xiao I want everything... your body, mind and heart," he told her.

She didn't understand what use the devil had for a heart, but she had no energy to ask.

"And Hworang lives?" she asked him to be certain.

Something twisted in those golden eyes, was it jealously?

"He lives," Jin agreed.

"What of my other friends?" Xiaoyu asked.

He stared at her a long time before he spoke, "They will be under my protection, provided you keep your end of the deal."

Xiaoyu nodded and within a span of an hour her fate was sealed.

/

Hworang had been on the edge of dying for so long he wondered why God didn't just make up his mind already _. If he even exists._ He thought angrily. It wasn't so much the physical pain that continued to haunt him, no he'd endure enough broken bones, broken everything to suffer through it.

No it was all mental.

When the fight had started, he'd come out strong, stronger than ever. Years of preparing for the moment when he finally defeated that smug bastard giving him new found energy. And he'd thought he was winning, there had been a moment when he thought his last kick was the final blow.

He'd been wrong and he'd only realised it in that split second as he readied his final attack. Where his body felt heavy, Kazama had seemed completely untouched. The air had shifted and Hworang had known that his arrogance had blinded him. He never stood a chance and maybe after that first encounter between them when their fight had ended with a draw, he never had again.

Every blow Kazama delivered was precise and powerful. When his femur was shattered, he'd heard the bones crack and the blood curling scream that was forced out of his mouth. It had seemed as if Kazama would never stop, but eventually he had but not from fatigue, because even in that near death moment Hworang had seen his unfazed expression. No Kazama stopped because he had decided he was not worth killing and that somehow hurt more than his broken bones.

"Hwo?" the voice was soft and the hand that touched his heated forehead blessedly cool.

It took him several moments to make out the face over him, without her signature pigtails she somehow looked less like Xiaoyu and more like the woman he was secretly in love with.

He made to open his mouth but she hushed him with a finger on his lips. "Don't talk, everything is going to be fine, you're going to be okay," she promised.

And it was so easy to believe her, with those warm brown eyes and her voice lulling him back to sleep. Somewhere in the back of his mind something told him that he was missing something again. That something was wrong, but his tired mind pushed it back to allow him rest.

He could hear her talking and once or twice he felt what felt like raindrops fall on his face and he groggily asked, "Why is it raining, XIaoyu?"

She wiped at the wet residue on his face and replied, "It's never stopped raining, Hwo."

/

He'd tried to forget her. To drown out the sound of her sighs with loud metallic music, erase her face with countless whores. But like a curse her ghost had followed him everywhere, haunting and paralyzing him. No amount of hours spent training relentlessly could absolve him of her. It had started with love but time had morphed it into an obsession, one that threatened to consume him in a ball of fire much hotter than any depths of hell could.

So he had waited and plotted. And like a sign, the arrogant Korean had come blazing to him, bringing with him the promise of finally getting _her_ back.

And now even as she refused to meet his heated gaze, her body responded to him, a simple caress hardening nibbles begging for his mouth. He wanted to devour her, to unleash the same desire burning his very core within her.

As she moaned, arching her back towards his touch no doubting cursing him for knowing her body so well, he stole another heated kiss. His hands wanted to touch her everywhere all at once, to burn his touch along ever curve.

"You're mine," he told her with every touch and kiss.

She'd tried to fight him, to deny the ache deep in her belly that only he can fulfil, but he'd refused to accept her denials. And now as he eased himself into her tight, wet velvety depths she scratched at his back and cursed him for what felt like the hundredth time.

But even as angry words spewed out of her mouth her body rocked with his rhythm, matching him for every thrust.

And when her eyes rolled back, their bodies coated in a sheen of sweat it was his name that came out of her mouth repeatedly – like a prayer.

He dug his fingers into her sleek hips, driving deeply as she shuddered and came undone. It was only then that he allowed himself his own release. His seed spewing like a hot tidal wave inside of her.

But it wasn't enough, so he bent his head and bit hard into her shoulder, branding her.

Xiaoyu was his.

 _I don't need you, I don't need anyone_

 _Come back_

 _Come back_

 **Feedback as always is much appreciated though definitely not a prerequisite for the next update.**


	2. Chapter 2

**Author's note:** Thank you to the reviewers! So I'm not exactly happy with this chapter but after reworking on it several times I literally gave up – it is what it is. To **Anoon** how could you have known? The whole inception for this story was to write such a story because I too have been searching without much success. I hope I can do the plot and the characters justice.

 **Disclaimer:** Had Nitesky by Robot Koch on repeat, amazing track.

 **IIII**

"I think he's waking up..."

"Finally, it's been days..."

"Hey Hworang, you okay man?"

Hworang's body felt heavy and his head like it had been stuffed with soggy tissue to the point of bursting. Not to mention the dull throbbing pain weighing him down. He blinked several times before the blurry shadows leaning over him took distinguishable shapes. "Lars?" he slurred.

"Yup, he's going to be fine," Lars said handing him a bottle of water.

Confused and weak, Hworang struggled with keeping his fingers from shaking long enough to take a few sips of the blessedly cool water. He was proud, but not stupid, so when Steve helped him sit up he didn't put up a fuss. "How long have I been out of it?" he asked.

"Three days, mate," Steve responded with a smile that was meant to be encouraging but the war had taken a toll on even him. "Just like Jesus..."

"I doubt Jesus woke up feeling like shit," Hworang muttered.

His memories were somewhat hazy but he remembered fighting Kazama, getting his ass kicked and almost dying. Only he hadn't died, there had been Xiaoyu and the rain that kept falling on his face –

 _Xiaoyu!_

He began to frantically search the faces around him. "Where is Xiaoyu?" he asked. There was Steve and Lars but also on the fringes he noticed Julia and a few others of the rebels. Only Xiaoyu and Miharu were absent.

Lars and Steve exchanged a look and it only made the panic rising up his throat that much worst. "Where is she, Lars?" he demanded, forgetting he was still recovering and his body ached in places he didn't even know existed.

Lars sighed warily. "She's with him," he replied and Hworang knew instantly who the _him_ was.

"What?!" he bellowed, ignoring the pounding in his head and the fact that his left leg was shooting pain like lasers. "We need to get her back!"

"Why are you all just standing there? Xiaoyu needs us!"

But no one stirred and it only angered him further. "Fine, I'll go on my own!" he declared but Lars placed a restraining hand on his shoulder.

"Don't be foolish," he said softly. "Xiaoyu knew she was the only one who could get you back, she understood the risk."

"Stop talking about her like she is some dead war hero!" Hworang yelled. The room was swimming before his eyes and any moment his skull would split in two and he'd be dead. _Why were they all just standing there like she was already dead?!_

"Honestly do you simply refuse to think or is it an actual handicap of yours?"

Hworang turned his blurry vision towards the voice.

Lee Mishima despite the run down bunker and the general grime that came with war looked immaculate in his white tux. The pompous git even had a rose attached to his breast pocket. "It's your fault little Ling is in this predicament to begin with," he said managing to sound both pitying and condescending.

"My fault?" Hworang uttered with wide eyes.

"She has been the one thing Jin has desperately wanted but failed to get and with one stupid impulse you gave him the leverage he needed." Lee explained in that same flat voice.

Hworang swallowed thickly, letting Lee's word's sink in. _He'd been so stupid!_ He'd thought Kazama didn't think him worthy of killing, but it had never been about him or even defeating him. Probably why the bastard hadn't even been trying. Of course Xiaoyu would come for him, he'd have done the same and Kazama had known.

The distance between them just kept growing bigger.

"So what, we just leave her, pretend she doesn't exist?' he asked thickly.

"Don't be absurd," Lee mocked. "Xiaoyu is probably the best off out of us all right now."

"She's living with that monster!"

Lee nodded. "Indeed in the lap of luxury, Jin won't harm her," he said confidently.

"Besides, Xiaoyu is the leverage we've needed," Lars said stepping into the conversation.

"What do you mean?" Hworang asked.

Lars seemed hesitant to answer but finally did, "She's going to be our mole...Jin trusts her and now instead of being five steps behind him we can finally get the upper hand."

"Know what he is planning before he executes," Lee added.

Steve patted Hworang gently on the back. "See, it's going to be alright," he said reassuringly only it sounded wrong.

It was all wrong, because Xiaoyu was never supposed to be the sacrificial lamb, he was supposed to protect her from Jin. Not gift wrap her like he did.

"But Kazama will be expecting this, the guy is stupid but not that stupid."

"No," Lars agreed. "But that's exactly what we're counting on... he'll try to use it to his advantage and that's when we'll strike."

Hworang swallowed. It was so easy to forget at times who Lars really was. He wasn't like them, he'd been rebelling against Jin for much longer- this was just another move in a long gruelling match for him. "And Xiaoyu?' he asked softly.

"Another casualty to this ongoing war," Lee said flatly, he seemed unfazed by the glares his comment elicited. "What, I'm just voicing what all of you are thinking!"

All except one. Hworang wasn't going to let Kazama ruin the one good thing he had left _. I'll save you, Xiaoyu._

/

Xiaoyu hates that even after all this time after all he did, being near him still feels like falling for him all over again.

Her body still strums to the beat of his touch, desperate for more.

Because the truth is, Jin never changed, he was always aloof and shutting the world out, the one who changed was her. Somewhere along their tragic short lived love story the stars had fallen from her eyes and where there should have been a knight she saw the dragon instead. But even then it was hard. Leaving Jin had been like a death, only there was nothing to bury and all the mourners were left asking questions the dead could not answer.

"Xiao," her name on his lips sounds like validation.

Even though two years has passed she can still remember how he looked at her like she was betraying him. Like love for him should have weighed more than the deaths his destruction had caused, more than her only family, more than her friends more than her own sake. She'd always thought him selfless, lost and at times cold but never selfish until that moment. Jin had never seemed to want for anything until she was walking away from him and his house of lies.

Her breath came out in laboured breaths as her arms loosened around Jin's neck as he braced himself above her so as not to crush her under his weight. Everything aside the one thing that hadn't changed was the sex. Or maybe it was because Jin was her first and her last? And sex with him would always be torturously sweet.

"What are you thinking about?" he asked, gold eyes piercing through her.

Xiaoyu turned away from him, eyes narrowed. "You said nothing about forcing me to speak to you," she muttered.

Jin's body sunk besides her and before she could breathe again he pulled her to him so she was forced to hold his gaze. "Is that what this is, me forcing you?' he asked and he almost looked hurt. When she kept her lips pressed closed, his eyes narrowed. "Answer me Xiao, because I'm a lot of things but I'm not a rapist." He hissed and she realised her careless words might have grazed him after all.

She could lie of course, turn this whole thing into something ugly and sordid but she wasn't that cruel. So Xiaoyu wordlessly shook her head in the negative. Jin hadn't forced himself onto her. Yes she wished she was stronger, that a simple touch from him didn't send her into a spiral of lust and frustrations. However that weakness didn't negate consent on her part. She might have tried to fight the pull between them but she'd been more than a willing participant.

Jin swallows. He looks like he wants to press the issue further, but something stops him. His eyes take in her bruises instead and she can't tell if his pleased or disturbed by what he sees. But if the way his arm rests possessively around her middle is any indication, a part of him must feel some sort of satisfaction. After all his attempts at getting her back, he finally has what he wants. No matter the cost.

Maybe a part of her knew even before Steve told her Hworang had gone after Jin.

Now looking back at her desperate rescue she realises it had felt like coming back to a home she stopped missing a long time ago. And she's angry, hurt and maybe she really hates Jin as much as she says but the moment he cups her face, staring into her eyes like she's some saving grace, a part of her wonders who is blackmailing who. He looks different, it's strange how little and yet how much two years can change. He still smells the same, his eyes glistering in the same sheen of gold, but now when he kisses her it feels like a frantic plea.

When he'd always been so gentle and careful with her, his touch is now almost bruising as if digging his fingers into her flesh makes her more real. Xiaoyu wants even this to feel alien but it's still Jin and her body adapts to his new desperate touch without missing a beat. They mould together and if not for the memories she'd fool herself into believing nothing had changed.

"You can't leave," he tells her over and over again until she starts to believe him. "You can't leave me again, Xiao."

How is it that he destroys everything she loves and somehow she's the one made to feel all the blame? Xiaoyu clutches her fingers to her chest, Jin's arm like a steal chain around her middle. Sleep calls to her, promising rest and an escape but she is stubborn.

"Would it change anything if I said I'm sorry?" His question catches her off guard.

Xiaoyu doesn't want to lie so she doesn't. "No."

Jin is quiet and his breath fans her neck. "I am sorry... about a lot of things," he starts but pauses for a breath of a second before continuing. "Except loving you, I'm not sorry about that."

It's the first truth he's said all evening yet instead of relief fear coils in the pit of her stomach. Even as something flickers at his admission a huge part of her wishes it weren't true. It would be so much easier hating Jin if he hated her as well.

 _Life is hard, it will be hard long after you're dead because that's the way of life_. Grandpa Jinrei's words ring unbidden in her mind and suddenly it all seems too much.

Jin muffles her sobs with his chest, apologizing repeatedly because he doesn't understand what she is crying over. And maybe for now it's best if he doesn't.

/

"She's still here... is that wise?" Nina Williams asked. She made it her business to mind her own, but over the years she'd come to care for her employer in spite of all her rules about never getting attached. And only a fool would not see the risk the girl posed to their security, but Jin Kazama was no fool. Yet she could not help wonder if he was being blinded by his obsession for the girl.

"I never got the impression that this was up for discussion," Jin said coolly as he gazed out the windows from his office.

Nina sighed. "It isn't but I had to ask."

"In the future try harder to refrain yourself."

He was dismissing her, she'd worked long enough with him to read his body language and understand what he didn't say. He was uncertain of himself. He knew the girl could be his downfall, but his heart was winning over his logic. And when the pieces fall, Nina would be there as she has always been.

"I shall leave you then," she informed him, before leaving him to his brooding and the devil that continued to haunt him.

/

"You're okay?"

Xiaoyu traps her button lip with her teeth. It's not supposed to be this hard.

"Xiaoyu?" Miharu presses on the other end of the line. Her friend is worried and she's standing here feeding into her worry.

 _Get it together, Xiao!_ She mentally admonishes herself. "Of course, I'm actually worried about you guys," Xiaoyu said relieved her voice didn't betray her emotions.

Miharu sighed on the other end. "Hworang is really taking all of this hard, you know he cares deeply for you." She says.

Xiaoyu doesn't like where this conversation is headed. Doesn't like how it feels like everyone needs her to be in a relationship so they can stop worrying that Jin will somehow seduce her back to the dark side. "And I care about him too," she says distractedly.

"Really? Because you've been sending mixed signals," Miharu said with obvious annoyance.

"I haven't been sending any signals let alone mixed ones," Xiaoyu retorted. She is over this conversation. She'd called to check in on the base, find out if Hworang hadn't done something stupid and assure them that Jin hasn't locked her in some basement. It seems she was going to suffer for her good intentions.

"Xiaoyu, listen I love you-"

"I love you too, Mi-"

"But I feel you staying single gives Jin the wrong impression that maybe if he repents or whatever you'll forgive him," Miharu says softly.

Xiaoyu can feel a headache coming on. "Mi, I'll call you later," she said not even waiting for Miharu's response before hanging up and pressing her head against the palm of her hand.

"Who have you not been sending signals to?"

Xiaoyu nearly had a heart attack as she spun around, eyes wide. Jin stood just at the entry way of the kitchen back from work and still dressed in his business suit. "Can you not creep up on me like that?" she demanded harshly, her feathers still ruffled from her call with Miharu.

Jin looked unbothered by her tone. "It's my house it's impossible for me to creep around," he said flatly.

"Then refrain from eavesdropping on my private conversations!" Xiaoyu snapped.

"If it was so private you wouldn't be having it in the kitchen," Jin pointed out.

Was it her imagination or was he enjoying himself at her expense? Xiaoyu wondered eyeing him suspiciously. "I'm not doing this right now," she finally said raising her hands in surrender. "It's been a long week... had to save my friend from a mad man."

He arched an eyebrow at her choice of words but chose to say nothing.

"Was there something specifically you wanted?" she asked suddenly uncomfortable as she realised it was just the two of them. She'd always had this suspicion that the Mishima staff were in actual fact ninjas and only pretending to be housekeepers and now as the silence of the house threatened to swallow her, she believed it.

"Have dinner with me."

Xiaoyu hadn't been expecting that and she was certain her confusion was painted all over her face. "I've had dinner with you three times this week," she reminded him, confused as to where this conversation was going.

"Not dinner as in having our meals at the same table while you pretend I don't exist," Jin began and she was surprised he'd actually noticed. "But an actual dinner where we talk."

"Is that a good idea?" Xiaoyu asked, wrapping her arms around herself.

"What is?"

"Us, talking... aren't you afraid you'll let slip one of your little secrets?"

Jin frowned. "I don't have secrets," he stated.

Xiaoyu snorted.

"Have dinner with me, you can keep quiet and I'll talk," Jin said and Xiaoyu actually laughed then.

"You talk?" she asked bewildered. "You think one word sentences are conversations." She pointed out.

"Maybe I didn't have much to say then."

"And you do now?"

"Yes."

Xiaoyu fiddled with the hem of her blouse. She was already talking to him so adding a meal as well shouldn't complicate things. Only Jin and things have only ever been complicated.

"Have dinner with me," he said again and this time Xiaoyu relented.

/

Conversation had never been his strong suit. Many thought it was because of his cold nature, but the truth was that Jin had been a very awkward youth and silence covered up the fact that he wasn't charming, funny or witty. He'd grown up in a place where his mother was the only other soul and suddenly been thrust into a world of glitz and glamour. A world where girls gawked at him or threw themselves at him without him having to utter a single word.

Guys were too jealous of him to actually forge bonds of friendship with and then Xiaoyu had entered his life and suddenly he felt that he didn't need anyone else. The whole deal with his family had also taken its toll on him. To find out his father was not only alive but wanted him dead had been jarring and difficult to cope with. Not to mention Heihachi's betrayal.

Add all that to his already nonexistent social skills and you're left with a man who finds it difficult to express himself.

"I'm waiting for you to overwhelm me with your ceaseless conversation," Xiaoyu drawled sarcastically.

He noted that she resorted to sarcasm quite often now. Where she'd been bubbly and somewhat playful she was now distant and bitter. He could now better appreciate the girl she'd been before things went to hell between them.

Jin opened his mouth but abruptly shut it close again. He didn't really have all that much to say. He was still ruling Japan with an iron first, searching for his father and trying to control the devil inside. Nothing interesting there.

"I thought as much," Xiaoyu muttered making to get up and leave but he had to stop her.

"How have you been?" he asked and he hoped it didn't sound as awkward as he felt about asking. Surely that should have been the first thing he said to her? Instead he'd propositioned her and blackmailed her back into his life. Was it then a wonder that she hated him?

"Well I buried my grandfather no thanks to you," Xiaoyu began darkly. "I also had to move out my apartment, lost Panda and a whole load of other stuff that mattered to me. So I guess you can say I've been really pissed off." She finished.

Jin absorbed her words and the anger they still carried. If she was still angry that meant a part of her still cared? He would have to ask Eddie. "I'm sorry about Jinrei," he said and it felt like apologizing was all he got to do lately.

Xiaoyu just glared at him, biting her bottom lip as she clenched her jaw.

He was trying but it seemed like she wasn't going to let him. It seemed like sex was the only time he felt close to her and Jin didn't want to make this all about the sex. No matter how good the latter was between them.

"Is there something between you and the Korean?" he asked remembering her earlier conversation on the phone. He doesn't know why but the thought of her being with another man threatened to send him into a murderous rampage, preferably one that ended with the Korean dead.

"That's none of your business," Xiaoyu replied coolly.

Jin's eyes narrowed. "You're mine so it makes it my business," he gritted out.

"I don't belong to you!"

"Like hell you don't!" he snapped back something uncharacteristic of him, but she was pushing all the right buttons. "What is he to you?" he asked tensely.

Xiaoyu cocked her head to the side, a saccharine smile on her face. "A friend... maybe more, I'm still deciding..." she taunted.

He should've broken Hworang when he had the chance. He thought darkly. But then Xiaoyu wouldn't have had any reason to come back to him.

"I would see him dead before he so much as touched you," Jin growled. Images of Xiao with anyone but him, let alone his old rival, twisting his gut.

"And what if he already has?!" she demanded as she stood up.

Jin glared at her defiant look, before grabbing her wrist in a painful grip. "You've perfected the art of lying... I almost believe you," he said darkly.

She glared at him trying to free her wrist and failing. She slapped him across the face with her free hand and he smirked evilly at her.

"How long have you wanted to do that?" Jin asks pushing his chair back from the table.

"Too long," she hisses right before she straddles his thighs. "This is what you want isn't it?" she demands sitting astride on him.

He frees her hand so he can grab her hips. "We made a deal," he reminds her. "I don't want just your body." It's a sad truth from an empty soul. He wants so much more than these moments when he can use her body's attraction for him against her senses.

He wants silly stories and not funny jokes as she steals him coy looks forcing him to steal kisses that she reserves only for him. He wants the past and all of its pain, because at least he understood that pain.

She strikes a thoughtful pose. "Oh I remember you also wanted my heart and mind," she taunts. Her words are careless and meant to inflict pain. They achieve their intended purpose.

"You think I can't win you back?"

"You destroyed everything. I will never love you again!"

"You're a liar Xiao," he states rolling up her dress to expose toned thighs. "You love me. The only thing you hate is that you can't make yourself stop."

He has touched a nerve, her eyes narrows and she tears at his shirt exposing his chest. "You've lived in denial for so long you actually believe what you want to believe," she snaps, scratching at his chest.

Jin cups her covered womanhood and she gasps in spite of herself. "If I'm in denial so are," he informs her before rubbing her over the silk of her panties. Xiao pants, arching her back and biting her lip to stop herself from moaning. "I'm not even inside of you yet and you're already coming undone..." he whispers huskily.

"Fuck you," Xiaoyu grits out.

"Oh believe me you're going to," Jin promises with a smirk. "Over and over again until you can't decide whether you want to keep fucking me or kill me or both."

A moan escapes her lips then as she gyrates her hips against his hand. "Tell me what you want," he asks his breathing uneven, blood pumping under his rapidly heating skin.

Xiaoyu shakes her head and he has no choice but to increase his tempo. She is close he can see by the way her eyes roll to the back of her head as he moves his hand.

He is just about to tear the flimsy silk to take things further when a clearing of the throat puts an abrupt stop to his actions.

His hand still cupping Xiaoyu, he demands, "What is it?" His voice comes out husky and harsh, but it can't be helped.

"Sorry to interrupt but there's an emergency, Kazama-sama." One of his trained men said, careful to avert his eyes.

Although he is reluctant to stop things with Xiaoyu, Jin has no choice. Gently he lifts her off of him, inwardly satisfied at her disgruntled look. A flicker of hope burns in his chest at her reaction.

"Be a good girl while I'm gone," he tells her as he fixes his clothing and hair. Once satisfied he throws her a cocky grin before leaving her frustrated, flustered and wanting.

 _No one sees what it's like_

 _You and me, you and I_

 _Never go, never hide_

 _You and me, you and I_

 **Feedback as always is much appreciated though definitely not a prerequisite for the next update.**


	3. Chapter 3

**Author's Note:** Thank you for the reviews. I did proof read this but history has shown me that some mistakes will forever elude me, so I apologize in advance for any typos. I feel like this story is getting unnecessarily darker than I first envisioned...

 **Disclaimer:** I don't own Before I ever met you by Banks, but it totally inspired the finishing of this chapter.

 **IIII**

" **... You bring out the mean in me and I bring out your insecurities."**

 **/**

"Come here."

Xiao scowled, her hands on her hips. "Why?" she asked with attitude.

Jin allowed his lips to curl into a slight smile. "Xiao, come here," he repeated.

She huffed, hesitated but eventually she made her way over to him. There was nothing sexy about her walk towards him, yet everything about it was sexy. From the slight sway of her hips that he knew was not intentional to the way her chest rose and fell. Her eyes looked coal black and mysterious. Sometimes it still gave him pause. He'd always thought Xiao pretty, definitely cute even when he was trying to avoid her, but it's like he went to sleep and when he woke up Xiao became beautiful.

And not just beautiful to look at but the kind of beauty that constantly gave him pause, made him forget his train of thought and a hundred other weaknesses his enemies would be happy to use against him. It's why he sometimes feels like Lars wasn't even trying hard enough to take him down, he'd literally had his biggest weapon against him and he'd done nothing but plot against the Mishima Zaibatsu.

"What?" Xiao asked standing before him.

Brought out of his thoughts, Jin licked his suddenly dry lips as he stared into Xiao's eyes. _How could she not see it?_ That he'd lay the whole world at her feet if she just asked? That there was almost nothing he wouldn't do for her? And perhaps that's why he loved her like he did, because Xiao could bring him to his knees but she was so oblivious to her sway over him.

Even now there was still something so innocent about her, a light that his actions, the Mishima's and the two years apart hadn't managed to touch. She was his redemption and sometimes it terrified him, probably one of the very few things that actually still did.

Placing his hands on her hips he pulled her closer so she was standing between his legs where he sat on the edge of the bed. "I want you with me," he said, holding her eyes with his intense gaze.

She looked puzzled. "I am here with you," she said.

"I want you here permanently by my side," He said seriously.

Realisation dawned on her face and she slowly began shaking her head and from her stance he could tell she meant to bolt so he tightened his hold and said everything he can't yet say and she's not ready to hear with his eyes.

"We were happy, we can be that again," he adds.

"No we can't," she said, dropping her gaze to the floor.

Jin stood, pulling her into his arms. She stood rigid and unmoving but he didn't care. "Says who?" he demanded into her hair. "We are the architects of our own happiness and I swear to you things will be different this time," he insisted even as the devil inside his head hummed and called him a liar. "All you have to do is love me again Xiao..." he paused inhaling the sweet airy scent that's morning in spring and Xiao. "Like before.."

She was silent, her body a statue. Worried Jin pulled away to look into her face only she was as pale as a ghost, her lips parted in a silent scream as fear clouded her vision.

"Xiao?!" he called alarmed but she remained silent. Panicked Jin ran his eyes over her face and finally over the rest of her and that's when his heart stopped.

Blood, the colour of crimson and sin soaked the white gown around her swollen belly.

"No... no... what have I done?!" He couldn't think over the incoherent stutter stumbling from his lips.

Xiao crumpled and he caught her in his arm. _I've killed her!_ He thought as gut wrenching fear twisted his insides. "Xiao!" A blood curling scream claws itself from his throat as pain seizes his entire body. Drenched in the blood of the only person he still loves he bowed his head into her neck as he held her close.

A gust of wind blew into the bedroom, the walls shuddered and the shadows cast blame. And inside that inferno of pain and torment his wings sprouted from his back and like black claws they gripped the air around him and enclosed him inside with Xiao nestled in his arms.

/_

Jin wakes with a start, eyes wide and his skin flushed with a sheen of sweat covering it. It takes a moment for the dream to rescind into the recess of his mind and for his conscious mind to realise it wasn't real. Still he leaps from his bed, makes the necessary distance to the adjoining bedroom in record time. When he flings the door open, Xiao starts at the disturbance, bleary eyed she blinks back at him in surprise.

"Jin?" she questions, voice thick with sleep.

Her eyes are puffy with sleep but there's life in them and he releases a breath he didn't realise he was holding. "Go back to sleep, Xiao" he says softly with the full intention of turning around and heading for one of his private dojos. He knows he can't go back to sleep - not after that dream.

However Xiao quickly stumbles out of the bed and he is amused in spite of himself at her chosen attire. It's an old t-shirt of his from back in his high school days. He had no idea she'd kept it. Even after everything.

"Did you have a nightmare?" she asked walking up to him, her voice coated with concern.

He stares at her and when she reaches out to touch him he halts her hand. "Don't." It comes out as an order but really it's a plea. Even though it pains him to admit it even if only to himself he knows she's here because he gave her no choice. That should he say the words she'd run and not look back. It hurts because he has yet to arrive at the place she currently resides where her love for him has morphed into barely tolerable hate.

If anything still lingers between them it's her lust and his misguided love turned obsession. Jin doesn't know much about being in love, because his mother ever spoke about his father with a far away glance and melancholy lacing her voice. The only woman he has loved and who has loved him back left him abandoned inside the fire they both created. It's the thing that Xiao doesn't understand. It's their demons, only he's the one that fights them while she plays the part of broken hearted and betrayed.

A flash of hurt mars her face at his words and gesture. Her reaction at his attempts to keep his walls in place angers him and once more he wonders how he can love and hurt over someone so much.

"Don't touch me like you care," he hisses still holding onto her wrist.

She winces at the added pressure around her wrist. "You're hurting me," she snaps trying to yank free.

"Isn't that what I'm good for, Xiao?" he asks through clenched teeth.

Xiao's eyes narrow into slits and it's like pouring gasoline on a dying amber. She strikes first, the open palm slap lands on his cheek leaving a burning sting.

" _Don't_." He leaves it there because even he is not quite sure what he's warning her against. _Don't touch me? Don't leave it there? Don't stop?_ It's like a hook to a bad love song.

When she hits him again, his head nearly rolls on his neck from the force. When his tongue darts over his lip, he tastes blood. "You really shouldn't have," he bites out before pushing her roughly against the wall and entrapping both her hands in one of his.

She kicks at him as he wedges himself between her thighs. Both are panting, eyes glaring at each other. Then like a dam breaking through the wall, their lips collide as their tongues mesh and duel against each other.

Her legs wrap around his waist as he tears the flimsy material of her panties. He attacks that sensitive spot of hers just below her left ear and she moans. It's almost animalistic how they claw at each other, grinding and kissing.

And this time it's Xiao who begs him to fuck her and he latches on like a drowning man, squeezing her thighs as he spears into her.

Jin doesn't want this to be the only true thing between them, but for now it's the only thing keeping them together. So he'll settle and hope he breaks down her walls.

/

"I'm so happy we got together," Miharu said excitedly. "We haven't done this in a long time..."

Xiaoyu smiled wanly. "Yeah..." she said as she absently twirled the straw in her drink while watching Alisa make song picks on the jukebox from the corner of her eye. It had been her plan to meet up, just because she was living in the Mishima mansion didn't mean she couldn't hang out with her girls even if only as a distraction.

"Xiaoyu, are you okay?"

The seriousness of Miharu's tone snapped Xiaoyu from her idle musings as she tried to focus on the present.

"Of course, why do you ask?" she asked.

Miharu gave her a sceptical look. "You've just been unusually quiet today and that's so unlike you," she explained.

Keeping secrets was also so unlike her, but everything was suddenly so complicated. For what felt like the hundredth time in as many seconds, Xiaoyu tugged at the sleeves of the long blouse she'd picked to wear. Neither Miharu nor Alisa had commented on her chosen look considering how hot it was.

"I'm just tired... it's been a long couple of weeks," she answered with a shrug and for the most part it was partly true.

"Honestly, I didn't think you'd last this long," Miharu admitted.

"To be honest neither did I." And it was the honest truth.

Miharu reached out to place a hand over her own. "You've been so inspirational Xiao," she began her voice slightly shaky with emotion. "I know I give you a hard time about it, but I don't know if I could do what you're doing... being around Jin all the time even though he hurt you." She paused, clearing her voice before adding. "I was so afraid you'd get sucked into his lies again but you've been so strong."

Xiaoyu wanted to throw her head back and release a humourless bark of laughter. She wouldn't call her actions being strong. Definitely wouldn't call being screwed against a wall a show of strength. However as long as she kept delivering snippets of Jin's coming and goings everyone was happy.

Everyone except her.

"I got us more drinks!" Alisa exclaimed happily as she placed the drinks around them.

Miharu laughed. "Alisa, are you trying to get us drunk?" she asked amused. "You've been plying us with alcohol and it's not even happy hour yet."

Alisa smiled, shrugging her shoulders. "I promise I'm not trying to get you drunk," she insisted, and then she gestured at a far table in the more secluded area of the bar. "It's from that table, they've bought the last three rounds." She added cheerfully.

Xiaoyu followed Alisa's gesture, squinting in the dim lighting to make out the figure. Although she was clothed in a rather inconspicuous trench coat with a fedora tipped over half her face, Xiaoyu would recognise that poise anywhere.

"Anna..." she uttered in disbelief. Last she'd heard the woman and Kazuya had gone into hiding. For her to suddenly appear and approach them meant something. _Why buy people drinks unless you wanted them to notice you?_

"Williams?" Miharu asked shocked.

Alisa straightened up, her arms spread and ready to engage into battle should the need arise. "It is her... I didn't see it," she said shooting anxious glances between them and Anna.

"Aren't you programmed to notice such things?" Miharu asked worriedly.

"It's part of the deprogramming Jin had done," Xiaoyu answered distracted, her eyes still pined on the other woman.

Although Alisa was more human than android she was still very much an artificial intelligence. She still answered to Jin's direct orders however her allegiance was with Lars and as such, a few years ago Jin had removed some of her programmed abilities.

Suddenly Miharu grabbed her wrist, snapping her out of her daze. "Xiaoyu, what do you think you're doing?!" her friend demanded in alarm.

Surprised, Xiaoyu found she was standing. Shaking her head of the last of her reservations she pried herself free from Miharu's hold. "I'm going to ask Anna what she wants," she replied calmly. "Obviously she wants something or she wouldn't have tried to get us drunk."

"Okay, we're coming with you," Miharu said already making to stand up.

"No!" Alarmed at the force behind her voice, Xiaoyu tried again. "She's here for me, so I think it's better if I approach her alone," she said in a more gentle tone.

Alisa and Miharu exchanged glances but since they weren't making any attempts to stop her or follow her, Xiaoyu squared her shoulders before heading for Anna's table.

"If it isn't my little cherry blossom," Anna purred, tipping her hat back as she gave her a predatory grin.

Shaking the feeling of apprehension that overcame her at the sight of the other woman, Xiaoyu crossed her arms over her chest as she glared down at Anna. "What do you want?" she demanded.

Anna chuckled. "Can't I enjoy Japan's night life?" she asked coyly before chuckling.

"The only thing you enjoy is killing," Xiaoyu deadpanned.

"That is quite true," Anna agreed with a smirk. Then she made a show of sipping on her drink, lashes lowered as she grinned around the straw. "Tell me, how is our mutual friend?" she asked.

"What mutual friend?"

Again that annoying laugh that sounded like nails on a chalk board. "I understand your confusion, straddling two sides of opposite teams can lead to all kinds of confusion," she said with an easy shrug. "But I mean Kazama... he's been a real busy bee yet somehow he's managed to include romancing you into his schedule... makes for a curious scenario."

Xiaoyu didn't know how much Anna knew about her spying for Lars and she wasn't about to provide the woman unintentionally with information about it. However the reference to Jin did put her on alert. If Anna knew Jin was busy that meant she was watching him which meant Kazuya was watching him which could only lead to disaster.

The city was barely still rebuilding from the last encounter between father and son. The last thing anyone needed was a full on Mishima battle breaking out in broad daylight risking numerous lives of innocent people again.

"Look who's grown up," Anna said all false sweet smiles. "So you're not going to tell me anything?" she paused and when Xiaoyu remained silent gave another shrug. "I guess I'll just have to do the talking for most of us then. I have a message for Kazama so I want you to listen carefully."

Placing her elbows on the table Anna leaned forward. "Tell him that daddy dearest said that he looks forward to meeting him in Zurich," she said before leaning back into her seat, arms dangling loosely over the booth.

Xiaoyu frowned. "What meeting?" she demanded

"I don't make threats honey, I just deliver them," she said than she rose to her feet, the coat falling open to reveal the skin tight dress underneath with its dangerously high slit. "You should've stayed inside your little cave with the rest of the kiddie army now you're going to get caught in the crossfire." With those parting words, Anna slinked away, sashaying her way to the nearest exit.

Shaken, though she'd done well to hide it from Anna, Xiaoyu slowly made her way back to her table.

"What did she want?" Miharu asked anxiously.

Xiaoyu sank into her seat, fingers curled into fists. "She wanted to threaten me," she replied, voice devoid of emotion. It was partly true. For some reason her mouth refused to form the words about a meeting in Zurich.

"But why?"

"To get to Jin Kazama," Alisa replied softly. "I've already sent a message to Lars informing him of Anna William's appearance. He's calling for an urgent meeting at the bunker."

"Okay," Miharu nodded as she stood up. "Xiao, are you coming?" she asked.

Xiaoyu shook her head. "I don't think it's a good idea," she said.

"But-"

"She's right, let's go Alisa," Miharu said interrupting her.

Alisa turned helpless eyes at Xiaoyu.

"Go, I'll be fine, _promise_ ," Xiaoyu said her lips curled into a smile.

Alisa smiled, nodded then turned and followed Miharu.

After Alisa and Miharu left, Xiaoyu sat staring at the unfinished drinks before. She wished she could crawl inside a bubble where her current reality was merely a figment of her imagination, but all she needed to do was glance at the angry finger marks marring the skin on her wrists and she knew that this was very much real.

As real as-

But she quickly dismissed the thought. Pushing it to the back of her mind where she keeps the rest of her fears. Not _that_ , anything but what her mind is contemplating.

/

" **Before I ever met you, I never knew I could be broken in so many ways."**

 **/**

 **There's a shift in tenses in this chapter that bothers me like crazy. I wrote this in two parts so hence the odd shift. I tried to correct it but it was messing up the story so I eventually left it as is. Sorry if anyone found the change disconcerting.**


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